Some B.C. Teachers’ Federation members are back in the classroom this summer, teaching non-credit programs for international students.

In Richmond, the district moved the International Student Program to a private school and successfully sought a Labour Relations Board ruling to prevent picketing.

Richmond Teachers’ Association president Al Klassen said the labour board gave the Richmond district an injunction on Friday that said teachers could not picket the private school because the courses are not part of the Kindergarten to Grade 12 curriculum and teachers are on a separate contract to teach the summer courses.

Richmond school board chair Donna Sargent said the program is not for credit, and is more like a cultural exchange or a camp than a school program.

She said the students had already paid their fees and in some cases, had already arrived in Canada, so school district staff felt they had to go ahead with the program.

Since they were banned from picketing, Richmond teachers decided to set up an “information demonstration” to hand out leaflets, Klassen said. But students and teachers did not arrive at the school on Monday.

The program did start Monday, but students were on a field trip, Sargent said.

“It’s an extremely stressful situation,” Sargent said. “We’re in a very challenging situation.”

Sargent said the district offers the program every summer, and one of the reasons behind it is to give students an opportunity to try studying in Canada in the hope that they will come back to for the regular school program.

Tuition paid by international students generates millions of dollars each year for many districts, including Richmond. For example, there are projected to be 1,358 full-time international students enrolled in Vancouver schools for the coming year, generating $17.65 million. Summer programs for international students would have brought in about $765,000.

“It’s a fair chunk of change and they’re committed to that money and don’t want to see it lost,” Klassen said. “I understand their concern.”

A similar program is also operating at a Coquitlam secondary school and is not closed by a picket line, school secretary Linda Devitt said in an email to The Vancouver Sun. Calls to the Coquitlam school district and the Coquitlam Teachers’ Association were not returned by deadline, but it is likely that the same rules apply in Coquitlam as apply in Richmond.

But not all districts are going ahead with non-credit international student programs.

Vancouver schools cancelled all summer school programs, including those that are non-credit and provided to international students. Some international students who had planned to attend programs at Vancouver schools were able to transfer into programs at Langara College, which integrated the Vancouver School Board’s continuing education program into their calendar earlier this year.

Surrey schools are providing remedial summer school for 47 students who met an essential services designation that said they had to have failed the course and not be able to take it next year. But the district is not providing any other summer school courses, district spokesman Doug Strachan said. A district principal is teaching those students.

Under normal circumstances, about 50,000 students take summer school courses each year in B.C., including about 27,500 in the two largest districts of Surrey and Vancouver. There are remedial courses, regular academic courses, interest courses for elementary students, and non-credit courses for international students. International students pay between $620 and $1,300 per summer course in Vancouver and $800 per course in Surrey.

More than 40,000 B.C. teachers walked off the job on June 17, casting about half a million students out of classes two weeks before the end of the school year.

The government and BCTF have spent 16 months trying unsuccessfully to sign a new collective agreement. The main issues are wages and rules about class size and composition. The two sides have moved closer on their wage offers (the government is offering seven per cent over six years, the BCTF wants eight per cent over five years).

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